"Largest mass hanging in United States history"<br>39<br>Santee "Sioux" Indian men<br>Mankato, Minnesota, Dec. 16, 1862<br>303 Indian males were set to be hanged<br><br>What brought about the hanging of 39 Sioux Indians in Minnesota December 26, 1862 was the failure "again" of the U.S. Government to honor it's treaties with Indian Nations. Indians were not given the money or food set forth to them for signing a treaty to turn over more than a million acres of their land and be forced to live on a reservation.<br><br>Indian agents keep the treaty money and food that was to go to the Indians, the food was sold to White settlers, food that was given to the Indians was spoiled and not fit for a dog to eat. Indian hunting parties went off the reservation land looking for food to feed their families, one hunting group took eggs from a White settlers land and the rest is history.<br><br>Authorities in Minnesota asked President Lincoln to order the immediate execution of all 303 Indian males found guilty. Lincoln was concerned with how this would play with the Europeans, whom he was afraid were about to enter the war on the side of the South. He offered the following compromise to the politicians of Minnesota: They would pare the list of those to be hung down to 39. In return, Lincoln promised to kill or remove every Indian from the state and provide Minnesota with 2 million dollars in federal funds. Remember, he only owed the Sioux 1.4 million for the land.<br><br>So, on December 26, 1862, the Great Emancipator ordered the largest mass execution in American History, where the guilt of those to be executed was entirely in doubt. Regardless of how Lincoln defenders seek to play this, it was nothing more than murder to obtain the land of the Santee Sioux and to appease his political cronies in Minnesota.<br><br><br>

You can read a more balanced account of this sad affair here.<br><br>Here's an excerpt:<br><br>The final decision on whether to go ahead with the planned mass execution of the 303 Dakota and mixed-bloods rested with President Lincoln. General John Pope, having been sent to Minnesota after his defeat at Bull Run, campaigned by telegraph for the speedy execution of all the condemned. Virtually all of the editorial writers, politicians, and citizens of Minnesota agreed with Pope. One of the few who did not was Henry Whipple, the Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota. Whipple traveled to Washington to meet with Lincoln and discuss the causes of the Dakota Conflict. By Lincoln's own account, the visit impressed him deeply and he pledged to reform Indian affairs. Lincoln knew well that the lust for Dakota blood could not be ignored; to prevent any executions from going forward might well have condemned all 303 to death at mob hands. Lincoln asked two clerks to go through the commission's trial records and identify those prisoners convicted of raping women or children. They found only two [cases 2 and 4]. Lincoln then asked his clerks to search the records a second time and identify those convicted of participating in the massacres of settlers. This time the clerks came up with the thirty-nine names included in Lincoln's handwritten order of execution written on December 6, 1862.<br><br>

That would be like kids stealing cars in South LA is ok. But when they turn the car into an offensive weapon and ram a cop car, then when the cop shoots the driver, it's "wholesale slaughter of our kids".<br><br>

_________________________I used to think it was terrible that life was unfair. Then I thought what if life were fair and all of the terrible things that happen came because we really deserved them? Now I take comfort in the general unfairness and hostility of the universe.

You can certainly post whatever you want, but here's what I think:<br><br>Throughout history, you will find any number of wrongs being done to any number of people. Slavery took place all over the world for hundreds of years. It still goes on in some places today. Same thing with Genocide. Unfortunately, it too still goes on. <br><br>The point is, you can only go back so far. Sure...what if Abraham Lincoln ordered the execution of a bunch of Native Americans? WHO CARES! That was 150 years ago. There is not a single living soul today that is either responsible or affected. It's over...history...done with. What happened then has no bearing on the present. <br><br>Holding someone responsible for that would be like calling up Tony Blair and demanding an apology for the British burning down the White House in the War of 1812. <br><br>

"...British burning down the White House in the War of 1812"<br><br>Wait a minute! That was them? Doh, I don't only want an apology, I want reperations! My great, great, great grandfathers, uncles, friends, gardener got a terrible splinter while rebuilding the Whitehouse. I presonally feel the pain of all Irish American gardeners. <br>IAG, stand up, and unite. No longer suffer in the gardens of the British. Overthrow! <br><br>

That's right!<br><br>James Madison, president at the time, was forced to flee Washington DC as the White House burned. <br><br>As a consumer of Dolly Madison snack cakes (so named after his wife) I want reparations from the British Empire! Fight the power!<br><br>

Well we demand the payment of back taxes for the every year since the illegal uprising and overthrow of the rightful government of the British Colonies in the Americas<br><br>

_________________________I used to think it was terrible that life was unfair. Then I thought what if life were fair and all of the terrible things that happen came because we really deserved them? Now I take comfort in the general unfairness and hostility of the universe.

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